February 6, 2024 – It’s been an unusually cold winter in Virginia, so it feels like a good time to escape to someplace warm. How does Colombia sound?

Ever since watching Encanto with the grands (at least a dozen times), Colombia has been on our list of places to visit. We plan to stay in Bogotá up in the mountains, Cartagena on the Caribbean, and Santa Marta, further north. Here’s a map:

Bogotá is a 4.5 hour flight south from Atlanta, still in the eastern time zone, so no jet lag – yay! The city is 8600 feet above sea level, so we may need a day to acclimate to the thinner atmosphere. The weather this week is ideal, high about 70 every day.

One US dollar is worth approximately 4000 Colombian pesos (fluctuates daily), so conversion should be fun. The official Colombian dance is cumbia, which I do in Zumba, so I will fit right in!

Our plane landed at about 7:30pm, and we used an airport ATM to get money for a taxi to our apartment. We were advised to only use a metered yellow taxi at the airport, although there were plenty of drivers at the exit wanting to take us for a ride. Luckily, our taxi driver knew right where our apartment was, as Google was off by about half a mile.

Although we did nothing but sit in airport seats and plane seats all day, we were exhausted and went right to bed. Tomorrow we will explore!